Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Cagayan
Rep. Jack Enrile yesterday called on the administration to come clean
on its procurement of books worth P1.31 billion through direct
contracting, which various civil society groups claim to have violated
the law on government procurements.

Enrile said President Aquino
should ask Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Armin Luistro to
explain why he authorized the direct contract for the procurement of the
books, as opposed to subjecting the contract to competitive bidding — a
rule of thumb for government procurements as prescribed in Republic Act
9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act.

The lawmaker said
resorting to direct contracting — especially for contracts amounting to
billions of pesos — defeats the government’s daang matuwid (straight
path) mantra, and exposes to attack the administration’s sincerity and
resolve in its promise of closing down avenues of corruption in
government..... MORE